Scrap Production: A Six Sigma Case Study

Six Sigma saved this company $19,546!

This project focused on the scrap being generated on Line 001, which produces tubing. The operation is staffed with two shifts, fives days per week. Scrap reporting indicated the annual scrap being generated was $50,000. This translates to 7.3% of good footage produced. The goal was to reduce the amount of scrap by 50%.

The Pareto analysis of the scrap indicated that 71% of the scrap occurred during start up, 12% due to machine issues and 11% due to material related problems. The main area of activity for this project centered on set up reduction.

The main issue was the length of the line (80 feet) and the number of times the operator was required to walk up and down the line to make adjustments at the extruder end of the line and measure the product at the other end to verify that the adjustment brought the product into dimensional tolerance.

With our six sigma training, the following improvements that were made:

Ultrasonic wall monitor and diameter gauges were added 12 feet from the extruder end of the line which enabled the operator to make all necessary adjustments without having to physically collect a sample at the take up end of the line.